


Moving Forward Moving On

by Calenderyear



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: A Leo coming back to camp alive fic, Multi, despite the ship tags this is mostly about friendship, post HOO, the other canon ships are theoretically still there but theyre irrelevant for this story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-29
Updated: 2017-08-29
Packaged: 2018-12-21 06:22:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,821
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11938167
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Calenderyear/pseuds/Calenderyear
Summary: Leo returns to camp after freeing Calypso and quickly realizes something has gone awry. Defying death and winning a war doesn't make it any easier to find your place, but having your friends makes anything better.Featuring all of the seven plus Nico, and a good deal of the cast at Camp Half-Blood.*I started this story before TOA was released or even a thing, and only recently started working on it again, so for the purposes of this story TOA is not a thing and Leo is still assumed dead





	Moving Forward Moving On

**Author's Note:**

> As stated in the summary, this was started before TOA, so for the purposes of this fic TOA does not exist, and we start by following Leo right after he uses the physician's cure and rescues Calypso.

Leo knew he should be nervous. There was no telling what he would find at Camp Half-Blood. Would everyone be angry at him? Were there any other casualties? Maybe Ogygia had messed with time, as he'd been warned was a possibility, and all his friends had been dead for 100 years. 

But he couldn't find it in himself to feel anything but peace, not now. Not flying above the clouds, feeling the warmth Festus gave off underneath him, hearing the calming machine hum. And best of all, the feeling of Calypso's arms around him, her head on his resting on his shoulder. As soon as they escaped the atmosphere of the island, she had stared wide eyed at everything, pointing with wonder at cityscapes and deserts below them. She wanted to stop everywhere, understandably, but Leo had been adamant. Keeping his promise to free Calpyso from her prison had been priority numbero uno, but informing his friends that he was, in fact, not dead, was a close second. Because of that, they had been riding nonstop for the better part of 24 hours, and Leo could finally recognize the curves and turns of the east coast below him. Despite her constant excitement, Calypso had finally fallen asleep fifteen hours in. Leo himself couldn't sleep. Too much energy, as always, but also too much happiness. He was afraid it was all a dream.

There was also the small matter that he had to stay awake so they didn't crash.

He wanted to reach his friends, to know they were alright, but at the same time he wouldn't have minded riding like this forever. His best machine below him and his best girl behind him, floating in the clouds. Leo couldn't remember ever feeling so content. 

Finally, New York City came into sight below them and just as Leo began their slow descent into the woods nearby the camp, Festus began to stutter below them.

"Um, buddy?" Leo spoke to the dragon. Festus did not respond except to begin shaking violently.

"Shit." Leo cursed as they began losing altitude at a alarming rate. He opened the control panel in front of him only to discover the main circuitry producing an alarming amount of smoke, like he'd been overworked. Which didn't make sense because Festus should have had the firepower to fly for a couple of years without tiring, but that didn't seem to matter, because the circuit  _was_ overheated, and they  _were_ crashing. 

"Babe?" Leo knocked Calypso's arm behind him.

"Hm? What is- oh my gods! What's happening?"

"We're crashing."

"Yea, I can see that! Are we gonna die?!"

"No, but brace yourself for a really rough landing!"

The rough landing he was referring to happened only seconds later, as Leo used as much flame power as he could to slow their descent and keep them from crashing head first into the earth. Then the ground as coming up at them and they were skidding through it, like cutting through butter. Leo could feel Calypso's arms fastened around him and they screamed as one while dirt and earth flew all directions and covered them. It sort of made his skin crawl. He had a feeling it was going to take a while for dirt to stop feeling unreasonably threatening.

When Festus finally stopped, they were somewhere in the middle of the forest, surrounded by mud and flames. There was a trail that Festus had made in the ground that went back around 300 yards. More importantly they were alive and in one piece.

"Yikes." Leo commented as he helped Calypso down from Festus's back. "The nymphs are not gonna be happy about that one. Alright! Camp is that way, I'm pretty sure."

"You're pretty sure?"

"Yup. We'll come back for you buddy." He told the dragon, who creaked weakly in response before Leo shut him down. Then he turned to Calypso. "You ready for a hike?" 

She smiled, and her smile could light up the entirety of New York.

Before they could even start on their journey, however, a boy emerged from the trees. 

He was tall, or rather, he was taller than Leo, which wasn't saying much, wearing a tattered Camp-Half Blood t-shirt and torn black jeans. Leo thought he looked vaguely familiar, but it wasn't until the boy got a look at Leo and immediately drew his sword from the scabbard that rested on his hip, that Leo recognized him. There was only one person he knew who wielded a Stygian Iron sword.

But it couldn't be. Because this boy was around Leo's age, maybe even older, and Nico was a year younger than him. This boy was taller, several shades darker, his hair shorter and healthier than Leo had ever seen it. But more than that, his face was different, even with his eyes squinting and lips tight in suspicion, there was none of the emptiness he'd come to associate with Nico. He looked like a totally different person.

Nonetheless, it was definitely Nico di Angelo who had him pinned against a tree with a sword to his throat.

"Di Angelo, is that you? You look great!" Leo said, trying not to be skewered and trying even harder not to think about what Nico's changes meant.

Calypsos eyes were darting back and forth, searching for a weapon.

"What the hell are you?" Nico demanded and his voice was deeper than Leo remembered it.

"What does that mean? It's me, Leo! Inventor and super genius extraordinaire!"

"Leo Valdez sacrificed himself to win the war against Gaea. I felt it, I may have even caused it. I know where Leo Valdez is and it's not here. Plus if you were going to imitate him, you got the timeline wrong. Leo would be seventeen now."

That got Leo's attention. "Seventeen? What do you mean? How long have I been gone?"

Leo already knew the answer, based on how Nico looked. He had known this could be a possibility when they left Ogygia. But he hadn't been able to believe it.

"It's been two years since Leo Valdez died."

"Two years." Leo repeated, his voice wavering. His friends had thought he'd been dead for two years. He'd missed two years.

He had never meant this to happen. 

Nico narrowed his eyes at the emotion on Leo's face. "Just be glad it was me that found you and not Piper because she would have ended you slowly. I'll kill you quickly."

"Man, hold up! I _am_ Leo Valdez, please don't kill me! I came here as fast as I could! I think I got caught in a time thing--"

But Nico drew the sword back anyway, and as he began to swing it he heard Calypso scream. When he felt the blade dig into his skin he was sure he was dead, but the pain never came. He was very glad for this as he'd been dead once and was not excited to try it again. Instead of a mortal blow there was a shallow cut on his left cheek. He could feel drops of warm blood running down his face.

Nico stopped short. "Red." he muttered and Leo understood. He'd been expecting the golden ichor of gods and monsters.

It was at that moment he caught a glimpse of Calpyso creeping behind Nico with a thick log in her hand.

Before Leo could warn her not to- he'd seen Nico in action before- she'd swung and Nico was spinning around to catch the flat side of the blade against her head. She stumbled back and in a split second the sword was at her throat.

"Don't hurt her!" Leo cried.

"Who is she?" Nico demanded.

Before he could answer, another boy stumbled into the small clearing, panting and dirty. This time Leo recognized him faster. He was as tall and tan as ever, and with longer hair, but it was very clearly Will Solace, head councilor of Apollo cabin.

"Nico-" Will was saying in between breaths. "I know you're more athletic than me, and I love that about you, but there's no need to show off by running ahea-" his face fell. "Leo? What the… what the hell is going on here?" 

There were a few things about that sentence that confused Leo, but they were quickly overrun by more immediate concerns.

"Will." Nico said, keeping his sword on Calypso but his eyes on Leo. "I need you to examine him."

"What?" Will and Leo said in unison. 

"Examine him. His vital signs, his... whatever. Tell me if he's human or not."

Will stared for a second more, then nodded. Right before he reached Leo, Nico growled. "If you make one move towards him that I don't like I'll end the girl and you, human or not."

And there he was, the unsettling and terrifying entity Nico had been on the Argo II. "Boy, you may have changed but you are scary as ever."

Nico's expression betrayed nothing. Will gave Leo one last hesitant look before reaching out to examine him. He took Leo's pulse, measured his breathing, looked at his eyes and ears, and the small cut on his cheek before stepping back and saying. "He's human. More than that, he's a demigod, as far as I can tell. She's not though." He pointed his thumb at Calypso. "I can tell that without even getting a good look at her. What she is though, I couldn't tell you. I don't know enough about god and monster physiology. I don't get it though." He went on, looking Leo in the eyes. "If you're not a monster, then what are you? You can't really be Leo Valdez. Can you?"

"I can, actually. Because I am Leo Valdez. And that lovely young lady is Calypso. We're dating." He added.

"I’m hardly young, Leo." she said. "I am Calypso, daughter of the Titan Atlas, cursed by the gods to stay forever on my island prison. Leo freed me."

Nico stared at her. "Calypso? Percy's Calypso?"

Calypso's eyes went wide. "Percy  _Jackson_? You know him?" There was a wistfulness in her tone he wasn't sure he liked.

"I know him." Nico confirmed.

"I didn't know you knew Percy." Leo said.

"He landed on my island." she said. "Before you." 

For half a second Leo felt a sharp urge to punch Percy in the face before remembering that Percy was a thoroughly decent guy who was deeply in love with his own girlfriend. 

"Ok." Nico said, relaxing maybe one tenth of a hair. "If you actually are Leo, why aren't you dead?"

"Duh! Has no one told you about the physician’s cure?"

"I know Hazel gave it to you. But Leo, you- or rather- when Leo died he exploded. How would you have taken the physicians cure, it's not like a vaccine. You have to already be dead for it to work."

"Easy. I programmed Festus to do it."

Nico stared at him, then turned to Will. "What do you think?"

"I- Nico, I know how you feel about the laws of death, but I think it's him."

"I think you might be right. And my interpretation of the laws of death is not all that strict, really. Why are you so young?" he asked Leo.

"I-I don't know." he said.

Luckily Calypso answered for him.  "Ogygia exists outside of time. Escaping from it's atmosphere into the normal flow of time can be treacherous."

"I fought Gaea two days ago." Leo said quietly.

Will looked at him with pity. "I'm sorry. It's been years."

"Man, Piper and Jason are gonna kill me."

Nico gave him and Calypso one long apprehensive look before slowly lowering his sword. 

"Alright. I'll take you back to camp so Chiron can have a look at you." 

"Alright great, that was the original plan before you almost murdered me."

"Nothing personal."

"Yea-- was that a joke di Angelo? Do you make jokes now?"

Nico stared at him. "You're really annoying. Maybe you are Valdez."

"Hey now, that's mean."

"C'mon." Calypso put her arm around his. "Which way to camp? I can't wait to see it and meet everyone. I haven't exactly been able to meet a lot of people." She explained. 

"I imagine not." Nico said. "And if you think that I'm about to walk you back through camp where you can make a scene, think again. We're getting there a different way."

He slipped his hand through Wills and then grabbed at Leo's wrist.

"Di Angelo, this is flattering but I’m taken." Leo said before he could think better of it.

Nico just raised an eyebrow at him and said "Good, so am I. Calypso, grab Leo's hand please." 

She did and before Leo could say anything they were enveloped in a blanket of darkness.

 

 

Leo came back into existence shivering and gasping. He wasn't sure how to process what had just happened. He could still hear whispering in his ear and feel cold hands grabbing at his ankles.

Will Solace was leaning against a chair, looking vaguely ill. "Gods, I hate doing that." he muttered. Next to him Calypso was wide eyed and pale. 

"What the hell was that?" Leo demanded, squeezing Calypso's hand reassuringly.

 "Shadow-travel." Nico answered and if Leo wasn't mistaken he looked amused. "It's not for everyone. Here, chew this. It'll help."

He handed Leo a piece of what looked like gum from a nearby cabinet. It was then that he realized that they were in a completely different place, one he actually recognized. The Camp Half-Blood infirmary, familiar and calm with its bright lighting and intermingling smell of herbs and antiseptic. There were at the far end, in a corner partly sequestered off by a curtain. It was where they usually kept patients in critical condition, but it was empty now, along with most of the infirmary.

There were a few people on the other side. Leo recognized Mitchell from Aphrodite cabin getting an injured arm set by Will's sister, Kayla. Neither of them seemed to have noticed Leo and company blinking into existence, and before they could, Nico shut the curtain completely, cutting them off from the rest of the room.

"I'm going to go get Chiron. I want him to look at you before we start accepting that you defied death."

He hesitated, looking between the three of them.

"I'll be fine." Will said. Nico looked uncertain. "I promise. Look, if they are monsters and try to kill me I'll just stick em with this." he held up an intimidating looking syringe filled with clear liquid. "It'd knock out a titan."

The corner of Nico's mouth turned up in what could have been a smile. "Alright. I'll be back in a minute." Nico’s eyes met Will’s and Leo could feel the intensity of his gaze. “If they try anything, _anything,_ don’t hesitate. You’re the priority.”

Will looked a cross between exasperated and fond, but he nodded.

Nico disappeared thorough the curtain. 

 The three of them sat in an uncertain silence.

"Hey Nico." He heard Kayla say. "Where's Will? I thought you guys were going "hiking" today?"

"Uh. I don't know. I'll be back soon. Don't go over there, behind the curtain. Seriously."

"Why? Oh my god, did you get Will a surprise?"

"Um. Yes. I did. Will is over there, waiting. So just... don't go over there."

"Right, fine. Ugh, you guys are so cute its gross."

"Ok. So I'll be right back. Don't--"

"Go behind the curtain. I get it!" 

"Alright. Thanks."

Will snorted. "What a dork." he muttered, but it was fond. 

There were a lot of things going on in Leo's brain that could be summarized pretty well by a giant question mark.

Will turned towards Leo. "So. You're really back, huh? Everyone’s gonna be so glad. "

"Yea. if they don't kill me. You seem more convinced of my identity than Di Angelo."

Will shrugged. "Nico's cautious. He's had to be."

"Fair enough. Yea, about that... uh what's the deal there, huh? Cuz it almost seems like you guys might be... um..."

"He's my boyfriend."

Leo's eyebrows flew up trying to make the equation between surly Nico and sunny Will Solace work. "Right. Sure. That's not weird at all."

"No, it's not." Will said. "Definitely not weirder than dating an immortal Titan who you rescued from an island."

"Ok, that's fair."

"What does this do?" Calypso asked, who had not been paying attention to the conversation at all, but rather walking around the room examining various objects. 

"That's uh- it's basically a magic x-ray machine."

"What's an x-ray machine?"

"Oh boy."

After about five minutes of attempting to catch Calypso up on the 21st century (they collectively gave up at the Internet), Nico returned with Chiron. He was standing in his full centaur glory, no wheelchair in sight. He looked at Leo with cautious but hopeful eyes. 

"Mr. Valdez. I couldn't believe my ears when Nico came in to tell me the news."

"Is it really him, Chiron?" Nico asked. "Can you tell?"

"I can. It's him. Welcome back, Leo." He reached out to shake Leo's hand. "And you, Calypso. Camp Half-Blood is always happy to welcome new faces and even happier to see old ones we thought lost to us. The camp will be overjoyed at your return. You were hailed a hero in death. Everyone will be glad to show you that honor in life." 

"Thank you, Chiron." Leo said honestly, trying to force back the lump in his throat.

Chiron smiled. "I'm sure you both have quite a tale to tell, and I do want to hear it, but I think you might want to see your friends first. I'll leave you to it for now. And on my way out I'll stop by and let Ms. McLean know what has happened."

"Thank you, Chiron." Calypso said. 

When he walked away he was shocked to find Nico smiling at him. "Hazel's going to be so happy." He said. "You ready to see everyone?"

And now the nerves that he hadn't felt when they were flying came to him. "Yea, of course" he lied.

For him, it had been just days but for everyone else it had been years. What if they'd moved on, barely remembered his name? What if they hadn't even missed him at all?

Now it was Calypsos turn to squeeze his hand reassuringly. 

"Jason first, I think. Cuz he's alone." Nico said to Will, who nodded. Then he turned to Leo. "I think it's best if you stand over there. We might need to ease Jason into the concept."

Will took a spray bottle and squirted a small amount of water into the air, through which Nico threw one golden drachma. 

"Jason Grace." He said, taking care to stand where Leo couldn't be seen. 

Jason's face popped into existence a few feet seat and Leo felt like he'd gotten a punch to the stomach. It was Jason, but it wasn't the Jason he remembered. He was still wearing those glasses given to him by Aesculapius, but Leo could see the wear in them, accumulated over two years. Jason's hair was cropped close to his scalp and his face was the same but... Older. His shoulders broader, cheekbones sharper, any trace of baby fat gone. He looked like an adult. He was an adult. If it had been two years, then Jason was eighteen. 

Leo suddenly felt very much like a child, and very sad

"Nico!" Jason exclaimed, grinning. "I was staring to think you'd never call me."

"I called you last time, Grace, it was your turn." 

"I always call you, though. I'd almost think you didn't want to talk to me." 

"That's cuz I don't." 

"Yea yea, I know you love me." 

"Keep dreaming, Grace." 

"Great, are they dating too?" Leo muttered to Calypso. Jason and Nico Spoke with a familiarity that came with years of friendship. How much could things have changed since he'd been gone? 

"So what's up, Nico? Decided to join me in Peru after all? We're building some really fun shrines." He enticed.

Nico’s expression turned serious and Leo's stomach clenched. "No. Jason, something happened. And it's... It's big."

"What?" Jason snapped. "Is someone hurt? Is Piper ok? Are you?"

"I'm fine. So is Piper. Nothing bad happened. But uh, well there's no easy way to explain this. So..." He motioned for Leo to walk over, which he did. 

When Jason caught sight of him his eyes widened almost comically and Leo saw him mouth his name. "Hey, superman. I'm told it's been a while. How's it going?"

After a moment where it appeared that Jason was having difficulty speaking he finally said. "Nico, if this is your morbid idea of entering the prank war this isn't funny."

"It's not a prank. Gods, Grace, I wouldn't do that. It's him, Jason. I made sure. I'm not clear on all the details, but it's him."

Jason's eyes found him again. "Leo?" He said in a trembling voice.

Leo nodded, not trusting himself to speak.

"But... How? You haven't aged a day... And you're even wearing the same clothes..."

"I went to get her." Leo said gesturing to Calypso, who waved. "She lived on this island that she couldn’t leave and I had to go back for her. But her island kind of exists outside of time and I guess coming back... Everything got a little bit wonky.” He took a deep breath. “To me the battle with Gaia was yesterday. I rode all night to get here..." to his absolute dismay, he found he could no longer talk through the constriction in his throat.

Jason too seemed at a loss for words. Finally, he managed a rough. "I'm coming back. Right now."

Nico nodded, like he'd expected that. "I'll come get you."

Jason turned to Leo. "Gods, Leo, I-I missed you so much, man." 

"Yea. Me too" Leo told him in a trembling voice.

Next to him, Nico dissolved into shadow as Jason's image disappeared.

Leo held it together as Nico reappeared moments later, with Jason in tow. He held it together as Jason put his arms around him and not a second longer.

 

 

It didn't take long for Piper to appear, panting, in the infirmary doorway, taller and beautiful to a degree that was almost painful. Leo had only just managed to stop his tears and was fighting hard against them again as he took in her face, the same but subtly different, the invisible markings of time that Leo had missed completely. He put out his arms for a hug, foolish in retrospect, and instead found himself clutching his face where she slapped him, before enveloping him in a hug so tight it was painful. He could feel her tears against his neck. 

"Your backhand is as strong as ever, beauty queen." 

She gripped him tighter. "You're not allowed to speak yet. If you talk, I might kill you."

He laughed into her shoulder.

Hazel and Frank shortly after, appearing simultaneously out of the shadows with Nico, already running at him, both of them crying as they tackled him in a hug. It was a relief to see Hazel, the most unchanged so far, though her hair was shorter and she'd dyed it at the tips. Frank however, already big when they'd met, was now huge, and the baby fat that had defined him had melted off everywhere, leaving only hard lines. Always on the tall side, he was now easily a foot taller than Hazel. It was hard to comfort both of them when they were pretty much in different layers of the atmosphere. 

Annabeth and Percy were next, and the easiest for poor Nico to reach, since they were staying with Percy's family in the city. Percy's expression of shock was almost comical, and he was surprised when the two of them pulled him into a hug. He'd been the least close with the two of them, who, even during the war, had been older than him. Now they were clearly adults, just shy of twenty. Leo couldn't have pointed at what it was, they didn't look much different. Annabeths hair was longer, both of them tanner, but that wasn't it. What was it then, that made them feel so mature? That marked them as different from Leo, in a way they hadn't been before?

If Percy's expression when he saw Leo was funny, his face when he caught sight of Calypso was pure comedy. He drifted to Calypso's side. "Wow. I can't believe- you look the same." He choked out.

Leo wondered when it had been that Percy had landed on Ogygia. How many years had it been since then? Five? Six?

"That tends to be how immortality works." she replied, tone cold enough to give Apollo a chill.

Percy’s jaw tightened. "I told the gods- I made them promise to release you. They said they would."

"The didn't."

"I'm sorry- I didn't know-" He looked down, ashamed.

Her expression softened. "It's alright. It's not your fault the gods are cruel." She smiled. "You look good. I'm glad you found your way back to where you wanted to be."

"I-Thanks. This is so weird. Like, you're way too young for me now." he blurted.

Annabeth promptly smacked him upside the head as Calpyso responded "Hardly. I'm too old for you. By several thousand years."

"Yea, Jackson." Leo said. "She's found a nice mature guy to settle down with. Isn't that right, babe?" She smiled and kissed him on the cheek.

He snorted. "Fair enough." The smile slid off his face. "You're free now, though? For real?"

She nodded. "I'm free."

"Good." he said. "That's really good."

"You ok, babe?" He heard Will solace ask in the background. "That was a lot of shadow travelling really quickly."

"I'm fine, Will. I brought the Athena Parthenos around the world and that was a hell of a lot harder than this." Nico promptly collapsed. "Solace. Help me up. I can't feel my legs."

"Idiot." Will muttered, but with Jason's help, he brought Nico back to his feet.

Besides Leo, it had clearly been a while since they’d all seen each other too, and there was a round of exchanged hugs and greetings. Here he was, surrounded by his friends once again. The emotional upheaval taking place inside his body was almost nauseating in its intensity. He was happy, so happy to see them again. It had only been two days for him, but he'd missed them, desperately wanted to know they were ok. And yet, here they were and while he was happy, he was also... not. Here they all were, happy and healthy and two years older while he'd stayed the same. Even more of an outsider than before. He didn't know why he thought things would be different now that the prophecy was over. He should have known.

He'd always be the seventh wheel.

 

There was a campfire that night, to celebrate his return. All night campers he wasn't sure if he'd ever met came up to him to tell him how glad they were he was back, to thank him for being a hero. He was running on autopilot, not even sure how he was responding, but he seemed to be acting mostly normal since everyone kept smiling at him. The fact was that he had been the one to put the final nail in Gaea's coffin, and he supposed that did make him a hero. So why did his stomach clench whenever someone called him that?

Calypso smiled at him from across the grounds, where she was sitting with Percy and Annabeth, chatting amiably. He waved back.

Seeing his siblings again was particularly painful. Jake Mason had aged out, leaving a now eighteen year old Nyssa as counselor, but Leo was assured Jake was safe and pursuing a mechanical engineering degree at New Rome University. Leo’s little brother, Harley, was entering middle school, and sporting a new mechanical arm to replace the one he'd lost in the battle against Gaea. 

They settled in around the fire as night fell. Hazel was sitting on his right side, Jason on his left, glancing at him every so often like he couldn't believe he was real. Hazel had taken out a list earlier, of jokes she'd compiled over the years that she'd thought he would like. He had to force himself to laugh, not because he didn't like the jokes, but because he did, because they were exactly the kind of thing he liked. He couldn't imagine what she'd felt, putting it together and it hurt to think about. Of all of them, he couldn't stand the thought of having caused Hazel pain. Hazel, who he'd asked to trust him, that he knew what he was doing, before he'd ended up dead. He'd made her carry that for two years.

At one point, Will Solace and his brother Austin got up with a guitar and started a sing along, mostly for the younger campers. They played the camp favorites, Down By The River Lethe, Wheels on the Chariot, Hydra the Magic Dragon etc, and a few non camp songs that must have been popular because everyone knew them. Leo wondered if they had come out while he was gone. He was never exactly a pop culture connoisseur, but the idea of songs having come out while he was trapped in some magic time bubble disturbed him. 

Finally, when he felt like he might explode, he muttered "be back" and walked away from the crowd, into the shadows of the woods.

Nico di Angelo, leaning against a tree at the edge of the crowd with Lou Ellen and Cecil, watched him, but made no move to stop him as he walked by.

He was aware of nothing but the sound of the leaves and his own too quick breathing before he heard a wig snap behind him. He whipped around to find Piper standing in the shadows.

"Beauty Queen!" he said, plastering on a smile. "You scared me."

"Leo," she said. "Are you ok?"

"Me? I'm the king of ok. The Sultan of Alright. The emperor of doing just fine--"

"Stop." She said. "I'm not an idiot, Valdez. Talk to me. What's wrong?"

The smile slid off his face. "What's wrong?" he repeated. "Nothing. Everything. I don't know."

He didn't know how to explain it to her, that even seeing her now, taller than he remembered, with longer hair and an easier grin, a person that had grown into herself, all of it caused him pain and he couldn't tell if it was a good or a bad pain. That every time Jason turned to him and smiled he felt stabs of love and loneliness at the same time and it hurt, it all hurt and it was all too much. 

That he wanted to take the last two years and scrub them clean, take it all back and return to the friends he had known, but he knew that was stupid because he hadn't been happy then either.

So what did he want?

He found his friends, he got the girl, so why was that ache at the pit of his stomach still there?

He had thought he would come back a hero, a changed man. He was Calypso's rescuer, Gaea's defeat. He had wanted to change the way they all looked at him. Instead, it was the world that had changed around him, and him that had remained exactly the same. 

"I thought things would be different." he said finally. "I thought it would be... I don't know what I thought."

"Have we done something to upset you?"

"No! No. It's not about you- it's just. I thought--" 

_I thought this time I would belong._

But he'd come back and found the same invisible wall, six people even more of a solid unit than before, already complete, no seventh need apply. Even Nico fit in with them better than he did. 

"C'mere." Piper said softly, beckoning him towards her. He went and she drew him towards her. Less of a hug, more two people standing close together, leaning against other. She'd been the same height as him, before. Now she stood several inches taller, his head resting on her shoulder. 

"I know everything is a lot right now." Piper said. "But it's gonna be ok."

He clutched her tighter. "You guys are the ones who thought I was dead, shouldn't I be comforting you?"

She smiled against his hair. "Same old Leo." she said, almost too quiet for him to hear. She leaned back a bit, so they were standing eye to eye. "I don't know what's going on, or what's on your mind, but it doesn't matter, alright?"

"Thanks?"

"It doesn't matter, cuz whatever it is, we'll get through it like we always have: together. You're alive. That's what matters. So what if you're a few years younger and you missed a few top 100 hits? You've always been immature and tone deaf. You're alive, we're alive. We're safe. Everything else is just a bonus."

Her eyes were sincere and lovely, the same multicolored galexy they had always been. The same old Piper, with a few modifications.  He smiled. "You really know how to slap a guy out of a pity party, beauty queen." he said. "Both your physical and emotional slaps are truly the highest quality."

"Thank the gods, I wouldn't be caught dead giving a sub par smack."

"I'd be happy to write a review, so the whole world knows the 100% pure grade quality of your backhands."

"Perfect. Could you fill out my quality control survey, so that we know how to improve our world-renowned slapping service?"

And then they were laughing and breathing wasn't nearly as difficult as it had been only a few minutes ago. 

He rested his forehead against Piper's.

Maybe he was lonely and unsure, an awkward piece that never fit quite into the puzzle of his closest friends. But he had someone who would follow him into the woods and hold him up until he was okay again. He had a sheet of old jokes in his pocket, folded many times over. He had a lot of somebodies, gathered around a campfire probably wondering where he went. 

That was something. That was everything.

 

Jason welcomed him back to the campfire. "Hey man, where were you?"

"Had to take a piss." Leo lied, then smacked Jason on the back for the hell of it. "I missed you, Superman."

"Hasn't it only been two days for you?"

"Two days without seeing your chiseled face is two days too long."

Jason smiled and put a finger to his lips. "They're trying to make an announcement."

"--And there he is, the man of the hour!" Standing in front of the campfire was his sister Nyssa, pointing right at him. 

"That's what they call me." Leo agreed.

"We have a surprise for you, bro." Harley chimed in. "We've been working on it since you got here!"

"A surprise? What-" 

Nyssa walked away from the campfire to a relatively empty spot on the lawn and lay down a golden suitcase. With a press of a button, Festus snapped into existence, bronze and gleaming in the low light. Leo liked to think it was the fire making his eyes water.

"You guys fixed Festus? Gods, how long did that take?" 

Nyssa shrugged, but she looked pleased with herself. "Most of today. We started working on as soon as we heard you were back. Nico said you crashed in the woods, so we went to investigate. It took some tinkering, but with the plans already in Bunker 9, and the notes you left, it was no biggie."

Leo laid his hand on Festus's side, it was polished like new. "This is amazing. He looks great."

"It was the least we could do." Nyssa said. "And it's not just a thank you, it’s a bribe. For all the shit you're gonna have to deal with when you take your place as counselor again."

The smile slid off Leo's face. "Oh- Nyssa. I mean this- this is amazing. You guys are the best, all of you." He met the eyes of his friends. "But I'm not staying."

He wasn't quite sure when he'd made that decision, if he'd even made it at all. Leo had enjoyed living at Camp, but never once during the war did he miss it like a home, wish to get back to it, not in the way he knew Percy and Jason had. Though he'd never put words to it, he'd always had the idea that he wouldn't be coming back here. 

He and Calypso had talked a little, not much because of theyre limited time, about what they wanted to do. She wanted to see the world, everything, which was understandable. He wasn't sure what he wanted, but travelling sounded nice. He'd never been able to take a vacation before. He figured it was well due. And maybe that didn't sound much like a life plan, but they could figure it out along the way. 

The crowd quieted. Harley's smile dropped. "You're not coming back?" his voice was like a stab to the heart.

"Why not?" Jason demanded, coming to stand in front of him. "Where are you going? Camp Jupiter?"

"Um, wasn't planning on it, no."

"So where are you going?" Hazel asked, her eyes blown wide with concern.

Leo shrugged. "I was thinking we'd start with the east coast first. Move into the midwest. Maybe make a stop in Mexico. How's that sound babycakes?" he called over to Calypso, who grinned.

"Sounds perfect." 

"My girl over there has missed out on a lot more time than me. There's a whole world to see. And we've got a whole flying dragon to see it with."

"Leo, you can't just go out there alone." Jason protested.

"The world is a dangerous place for demigods." Percy echoed. 

"I won't be alone. I've Calypso, and my old buddy here." he said, tapping Festus on the flank. "Besides, you're right. The world is a dangerous place for demigods, especially if they're young and alone, like most of us where at some point. Me and Calypso can help find them while were out there. Bring them here, to be safe. Or Camp Jupiter, I suppose." 

"Leo, are you sure you don't want to take some time to think about this?" Annabeth asked.

He met Calypso's eyes and knew that, whatever his choice, she would honor it and understand. He also knew that no matter his choice, she would not be staying. They had made no promises, except that he would free her, and that promise he'd made to himself more than to her.

He shook his head. “I’m sure. Thanks for worrying about me, guys. But this is what I’m doing.” He wanted to say ‘this is what I want’, but the truth was he wasn’t sure what he wanted yet. Maybe that was ok.

His friends seemed to understand. Jason and Percy nodded, Annabeth gave him a smile, and Piper too, though she seemed sad.

Harley bit his lip. “You’ll visit though, right?”

“Yea, kid. Of course. I’ll visit so much you’ll get sick of me.”

 

Slowly, the festivities revived and continued. Will went back to singing, the Demeter kids whipped out some smores materials and started passing them around. Somewhere off to the side, a young satyr Leo didn't know started playing music on a pan pipe, and a small group of campers gathered around dancing. Percy grabbed Annabeth's hand and drew them into the dancing crowd. He didn't think Annabeth would have been much for dancing, he couldn't imagine her ever letting loose, but to his surprise she just laughed and let him twirl her around. 

Piper stood with next to her siblings, Mitchell and Drew, who was now sporting a short bob with pink highlights and the same haughty expression he remembered. To his considerable surprise, they all seemed to be chatting amicably, Piper and Mitchell both laughing at something Drew said. Nyssa went up to them and Leo physically couldn't contain himself when he saw Nyssa drop a kiss on Drew's cheek, Drew blushing violently in reaction. 

"When the hell did that happen?" he said out loud.

"What, Drew and Nyssa?" A voice next to him asked. Leo jumped about a foot in the air and turned to find Nico di Angelo standing next to him.

Leo cursed. "Zeus's sake, Nico! Wear a bell."

Nico rolled his eyes. "They started dating a few months ago. Drew finally figured out the reason she never had a problem breaking boy's hearts and she got a lot nicer. Don't worry, she's still super irritating."

Leo almost felt dizzy for a moment, watching Nyssa smile, besotted, at someone she couldn't stand to be in a room with last time Leo saw her. Harley came up to ask her a question, almost a foot taller than before, his arm gleaming in the firelight. Leo couldn't stop noticing all the little things, things he had missed.

"Don't focus on the differences." Nico said, as if reading his mind. "It'll just drive you crazy."

 _What do you know_? Leo was about to snap at him, before Nico's subdued expression made him remember. 70 years. Nico had been locked in that magic hotel for 70 years. If the little differences were bothering Leo, he couldn't imagine what Nico saw. 70 years ago was a different world.

"How do you deal with it?" Leo asked him. 

Nico seemed to know what he was asking. He shrugged in a way that aimed for casual and didn't quite make it. "I don't think about it, mostly. My father dipped me and my sister in the river Lethe, so we wouldn't remember our old lives. It didn't totally work. I still remember little things sometimes, flashes. But I try not to. What's the point? Everything and everyone from then is gone." 

Leo didn't know what to say. 

"Besides," Nico continued, "it probably turned out better this way."

"How so?"

"Well I would have never met any of my friends. And if I had lived back then... I never would have been able to be honest about who I am."

 _About being a demigod?_ Leo almost asked, stupidly. But he saw Nico's blush and shy glance at Will, still dueting with Austin, and understood. "Ah."

"The time you lost is never gonna come back. Let it go. Try and find the silver lining, if you can." Nico said. "It's not great advice, but it's all I have."

He melted back into the crowd, meeting Will Solace at the center of it, who smiled and pulled him close. 

Leo appreciated Nico trying to help, but he wasn't sure he had learned anything except that Nico was the deserving 1st place recipient of the been-through-some-shit award.

He took it all in for a few moments, standing alone on the edge of the crowd. The smell of smoke, the sound of dozens of kids, yelling and laughing, and behind that, the calm sounds of the woods, crickets and leaves. 

He turned and saw Calypso, making her way towards him. She stood in silence with him for a moment, looking into the scenery with him. "It's a lovely place." she said. 

"It is."

Next to her, suddenly standing on the sidelines wasn't so bad.

"Are you really ok with leaving it?" she asked.

Leo took a deep breath and nodded. "Yea. I think I am. There's a whole world out there,  _princesa_. I've barely seen any of it." 

"You've seen more than me."

"Not for long. Starting tomorrow, we're gonna see it all."

"Tomorrow? You don't want to stay longer?"

He thought about it. "No." he said. He was beyond grateful to see his friends, that they were all ok. But he had his own path, and it diverged from Camp Half-Blood. The longer he stayed, the more he suspected it would hurt when he left. 

She smiled. "Ok. Tomorrow then. Based on everything I've heard tonight, I'm in for a lot of very big surprises out there."

She took his hand and he thought maybe he had found the silver lining.

 

Leo woke up early the next morning, whipped out sketching paper and wrote eight short notes. One for each of the seven, one for his brothers and sisters, sleeping beside him, and one for Chiron, so he would know where Leo had gone. He made his way to the Big House, stopping at each cabin and slipping a note under their door when appropriate. He was surprised to find Calypso already at the Big House, waiting outside. 

"Geez babe, how much did you sleep?" he asked.

"Not much." she confessed. "Too excited. Plus the Hermes cabin is loud. I've never had to sleep next to so many people before."

He laughed. "Yea, welcome to camp. Let's get on with it, then." 

They walked inside the Big House, and he slid his letter under Chiron's desk, where he would find it when he woke up. He was surprised when the door flung open, revealing Chiron, already inside, sitting in his wheelchair disguise.

"Mr. Valdez. What a surprise so early in the morning."

"Oh- I uh- yea." Leo spluttered.

Chiron surveyed the letter. "Leaving so soon?" he asked.

"I- yea. We've um- we've got things to see." he said, feeling guilty for no particular reason.

"Yes, I've heard. You're going on a world tour. I'm glad. It's dangerous for demigods to travel, but it's so important to see the world, to know why it's important to protect it. There's a lot out there. Strange and amazing things. I hope you get to see them."

Leo smiled. "Me too."

"You're friends won't be happy you've left so soon." he said, a bit of reproach in his tone.

"I know." Leo said, but he wasn't sure how to explain further, that he knew deep in his bones that it was time to go. "I'll still see them, though. With Iris messages, and so on. I'm not gonna disappear."

"Do you want me to pass on any messages for you?"

Leo shook his head. "I left all of them letters. But tell them- tell them I love them. And we'll talk soon."

"Very well." Chiron nodded. "I see you have your bag packed, but the young lady does not."

"I don't have anything." she explained. She'd left everything on Ogygia. 

"We may be able to help with that." Chiron said. "If you'd be willing to wait a minute, I can get some basic supplies for you. We don’t' like to send people out with nothing." With demigods leaving on quests, or for the school year or dying so often, there was never a shortage of extra clothes and supplies at Camp Half-Blood

"Oh- thank you." she said.

"Thank you, Chiron. Really" Leo said. The centaur nodded in response. 

"I'll wait for you outside." Leo told Calypso.

Somehow, he was not surprised to find Nico di Angelo on the porch, waiting for him. "You could always stay, you know." he said, with no pretext.

"I could." Leo agreed. "But I won't. Too much to do, you know? I like it here, this camp... it's a great place. A home." Not for Leo maybe, but to a lot of other people. "But I've gotta go."

Nico seemed torn before saying. "There was a time when I thought I'd never find a place to belong either. I thought I'd travel the whole world over, and the underworld too, and still come up empty handed and alone. But I was wrong. This place was just waiting for when I was ready to come back. Or at least, until someone convinced me that I could stay."

"Will?" Leo guessed.

Nico smiled. "No, actually, Will had surprisingly little to do with that. Will helped a lot after, in getting me to stick around, but It was a lot of things, a lot of people. Jason, a lot. Reyna too. Hazel a little bit. Will is..." he paused. "I love Will, and being with him makes me happier than I ever thought was possible. I don't know where I'd be without him. But Will isn't everything. He can't be everything. Sometimes you just need your friends."

"Ah. Ok, I got it, as I depart on my grand journey with only my significant other for company you leave me with this wisdom. I know Calypso isn't everything. I'll always have my friends. And I'll visit them, whenever I need to."

"Just tell me you’re not leaving because you feel like you have to."

"I'm not." Leo said, and he was surprised to find he was being honest. "I want to. There's a lot of the world I want to see, and Calypso even more. Maybe the two of us will come back someday, but for now... gotta be free I guess." 

Nico nodded. "Alright. Good luck, then. And come back, when you need a break."

"Hey." Leo said. "Can I ask you something?"

Nico nodded, looking serious, as though he already knew what Leo was going to ask. Maybe he did. It was something he knew he could only ask Nico, who had not been his friend before and who he knew would not spare his feelings.

"Do you think they missed me because I'm me, or did they miss me because I was dead?"

Nico took a deep breath before answering. "That's not an easy question. And when you lose someone, sometimes it's hard to tell. But the fact is that Piper worked for weeks to organize the victory party and then couldn't even go to it because you weren't there. Instead she spent the whole night in bunker nine, looking over all your sketches. Jason went into the woods to cry every day for two weeks after you were gone. Hazel started a list of things she would want to tell you if you were here. I expect she told them to you. Percy started telling dumber jokes than usual for a while, because they were things you would have said. They missed you, Leo, a lot. I know it must seem like they've moved on without you, but they carried your memory with them every day."

Leo nodded. "Kay. Thanks." his throat felt tight. His next words came out without his express permission. "Gaea told me that I would never find my place among the seven. That I was destined to be the seventh wheel, never truly belonging."

"She was evil, that's what she was supposed to say."

"She  _was_  evil, but she was right. My place isn't here, it never has been. I love my friends here, I do. But I never found a way to truly belong with them, and that's ok. I have other things to do, now. I couldn't find my place here." he said again. "But I'm glad you could."

Nico blinked in surprise. "Thank you." He smiled a little, and there was not even a trace of the scary and closed off person Leo had known before. His smile now was soft and warm. "I'm glad, too."

Leo turned away from the building, to the camp, the sunrise streaming reds and purples and oranges over the sleeping cabins, mismatched but still harmonious somehow. It was beautiful. Some part of Leo wondered what the hell he was doing, leaving a place like this. 

"It'll always be here for you." Nico said, as if answering his thoughts.  "And we will too."

Leo smiled. "Thanks. Y'know, you're kind of mushy when you're not too busy being terrifying."

"Don't push your luck, Valdez."

"Oh, but I always do."

The door opened behind them and he turned to find Calypso standing there, looking effortlessly gorgeous in a white t-shirt and overalls. She was holding a bag full of clothes she had gotten from Chiron. It was not a large bag, not a bag for someone who meant to stay in one place. "Ready?" she asked, her smile just as bright to him as the sunrise.

He smiled back. "Thought you'd never ask, darling."

He offered his arm and she took it, both of them making their way to where Festus sat, gleaming and ready for action, off to the side of the Big House.

"Not gonna say goodbye to everyone else?" Nico asked.

"I said goodbye already." he said. "Besides, I'll see them again."

He swung himself up onto Festus's back, then held a hand down for Calypso to do the same.

"Well." Leo said. "I'll see you around at the next apocalypse, di Angelo. With our track record, it won't be long."

Nico looked annoyed, but his lips quirked up just a bit. "Till next time, Leo."

 

**Author's Note:**

> It's been a while since I read some of the PJO/HOO books so apologies if I got any details wrong.
> 
> Leo is a character I have a lot of and mixed feelings about, especially towards the end of the series, but I felt obligated to root for him as part of my Latina Contract. But the stuff about being a seventh wheel really struck a cord with me and I wanted to write about it. And I just really love Nico. I just felt like there were a lot of unanswered questions at the end of the series character wise so this was my way of trying to answer them.
> 
> My only wish is that I could have found a way to include my queen Reyna in this but it just didn't make sense in the context of the story. I really pity Rick after writing this bc writing with so many characters that all have different relationships is really fucking difficult and this was only 8000 words.
> 
> Any kudos, comments, questions or concerns are greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading hope you enjoyed!


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